Back rest



Sept. 8, 1964 E. F. HAMILTON 3,147,993

BACK REST Filed Sept. 10, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. EARL E HAMILTON,

BY HL, h 1 Au ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 8, 1964 E. F. HAMILTON 3,147,998

BACK REST Filed Sept. 10, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 p I Z! 1 i x6 S5) 1! i T i l 1 x Hm, My 1' M Em E HTZTFJ ON,

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,147,998 BACK REST Earl F. Hamilton, Columbus, Ind., assignor to Hamilton Cosco, Inc, Columbus, End, a corporation of Indiana Filed Sept. 10, 1962, Ser. No. 222,501 Claims. (Cl. 297452) This invention relates to a back rest, and more particularly to a back rest for a chair or the like.

It is an object of my invention to provide a back rest for a chair or the like which will be of attractive appearance, which can be economically manufactured from inexpensive metal-tnbing and sheet-metal, which will prove sturdy and durable in use, and which will be comfortable to a person reclining thereagainst.

According to the preferred form of my invention, I provide a back rest mounted on any suitable seat and base assembly. Said back rest comprises a pair of laterally spaced upright stretches interconnected by a pair of transversely extending vertically spaced members. Pairs of aligned openings are formed in the adjacent faces of said pair of members for the reception of pairs of splats extending therebetween. Each of said splats has an arcuate configuration with its opposed ends lying on the chords of the arcs defined by said splats and received in the aligned openings in said pair of members. The splats in each pair of splats are disposed in opposed overlapping relationship wherein one of said splats is disposed in front of the other of said pair of splats in each pair of splats adjacent the upper ends thereof and behind said other splat adjacent the lower ends thereof so that each of the splats in each pair of splats cross-braces the other.

Other objects and features of my invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a chair having a back rest embodying my invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation of the back rest shown in FIG. 1, but with portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the back rest shown in FIG. 1.

My back rest may be used in combination with any desired type of chair seat and supporting legs 12, and may be mounted on the seat and/or legs in any convenient manner. In the chair illustrated in the drawings, the lateral members of the back rest are connected to the seat and project downwardly therefrom to form the rear chair legs.

As shown in FIG. 1, my back rest projects upwardly from the chair seat 10 at the rear thereof and comprises a back frame 14 conveniently formed from a length of metal-tubing bent to a generally U-shaped configuration to provide an upper bight 16 interconnecting a pair of downwardly projecting, laterally spaced stretches 18. Openings are formed in the inwardly presented faces of the frame stretches 18 for the reception of a transversely extending stretcher 20. Conveniently, the stretcher 20 is formed from a length of metal-tubing and has its ends flattened, as at 22, for reception in the slots formed in the stretches 18 for mounting said stretcher thereon in parallelism with the bight 16. As shown in FIG. 4, both the bight 16 and stretcher 20 may be curved rearwardly, and the stretcher may lie forwardly of the plane of the bight to give the back rest a comfortable contour.

The adjacent faces of the bight 16 and stretcher 20 are provided with vertically aligned, horizontally spaced pairs of openings 24 for the reception of the pairs of splats 25 and 26 extending between said bight and stretcher to form the main supporting surface for the back rest. As shown, each of the splats 25 and 26 is conveniently formed from 3,147,998 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 ice a length of sheet metal and has an arcuate configuration. The splats 25 and 26 in each pair of splats are disposed in opposed relationship to overlap each other adjacent each of their ends. As shown in FIG. 2, the splats 25 are disposed rearwardly of the splats 26 adjacent the upper ends of said splats and are disposed forwardly of the splats 26 adjacent the lower ends of said pairs of splats. In this manner, the splats 25 and 26 in each pair of splats are disposed in stressed relationship with each other to thus form a rigidly braced supporting surface. As shown in FIG. 3, the splats are bowed slightly forwardly between the bight 16 and stretcher 20 for increasing their resiliency and enhancing the comfort of a person reclining thereagainst.

Each of the splats 25 and 26 has outwardly projecting fingers 28 at its opposed ends which are received in the openings 24 formed in the bight 16 and stretcher 2h. The fingers 28 have a width less than the width of their asso ciated splats and lie on a chordal segment of the are defined by their associated splat to thus provide shoulders 30 at the opposed ends of the splats abutting the faces of the bight 16 and stretcher 20 adjacent the fingerreceiving openings 24 formed therein for locating and retaining the splats 25 and 26 between said bight and stretcher.

I claim:

1. In a back rest for a chair or the like,

(a) a tubular frame connected to said chair or the like and having a pair of laterally spaced upright stretches interconnected by a pair of vertically spaced transversely extending members,

(12) the adjacent faces of said members having pairs of transversely spaced slots formed therein,

(0) a plurality of pairs of splats connected to said members and forming a resilient area of support,

(d) the splats in each of said pairs of splats comprising generally planar strips of sheet-metal having oppositely curved, intersecting, arcuate configurations and provided with pairs of fingers at their ends received in said pairs of transversely spaced slots, and

(e) shoulders adjacent the fingers on each of said splats abutting the adjacent faces of said pair of members adjacent the slots formed therein.

2. In a back rest for a chair or the like,

(a) a tubular frame connected to said chair or the like and having a pair of laterally spaced upright stretches interconnected by a pair of vertically spaced transversely extending members,

(b) the adjacent faces of said members having pairs of aligned transversely extending slots formed therein, and

(c) a plurality of pairs of splats connected to said members and forming a resilient area of support,

(d) the splats in each of said pairs of splats comprising generally planar strips of sheet-metal having intersecting, opposed, arcuate configurations and provided with pairs of vertically projecting fingers at their ends received in the slots formed in said members,

(e) the arcuate portions of said splats having widths greater than the widths of said fingers and slots to define shoulders abutting the adjacent faces of said members adjacent said slots.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in which (a) the splats in each pair of splats intersect each other adjacent each of the ends, one splat in each pair being disposed in front of the other splat in said pair at their intersection adjacent their upper ends and in back of said other splat at their intersection adjacent their lower ends.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3 in which (a) the arcuate portions of said splats are bowed to project forwardly of the planes of their fingers.

5. In a back rest for a chair or the like,

(a) a tubular back frame having a generally inverted U-shape comprising a pair of upright stretches interconnected at their upper ends by a transversely extending bight,

(b) a tubular stretcher having flattened ends received in aligned slots formed in the inwardly presented faces of said upright stretches,

(c) the adjacent faces of said bight and stretcher having pairs of transversely spaced slots formed therein,

(d) a plurality of pairs of splats connected to said bight and stretcher and forming a resilient area of support,

(0) the splats in each of said pairs of splats comprising generally planar strips of sheet-metal having oppositely curved, intersecting, arcuate configurations and provided with pairs of fingers at their ends received in said pairs of transversely spaced slots in said bight and stretcher, and

(f) shoulders adjacent the fingers on each of said splats abutting the adjacent faces of said pair of bight and and stretcher adjacent the slots formed therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 D. 182,388 Sigal Mar. 25, 1958 2,566,622 Millier Sept. 4, 1951 2,851,090 Hamilton Sept. 9, 1958 OTHER REFERENCES Furniture Age Magazine, Hy-Lam advertisement,

page 5. 

1. IN A BACK REST FOR A CHAIR OR THE LIKE, (A) A TUBULAR FRAME CONNECTED TO SAID CHAIR OR THE LIKE AND HAVING A PAIR OF LATERALLY SPACED UPRIGHT STRETCHES INTERCONNECTED BY A PAIR OF VERTICALLY SPACED TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING MEMBERS, (B) THE ADJACENT FACES OF SAID MEMBERS HAVING PAIRS OF TRANSVERSELY SPACED SLOTS FORMED THEREIN, (C) A PLURALITY OF PAIRS OF SPLATS CONNECTED TO SAID MEMBERS AND FORMING A RESILIENT AREA OF SUPPORT, (D) THE SPLATS IN EACH OF SAID PAIRS OF SPLATS COMPRISING GENERALLY PLANAR STRIPS OF SHEET-METAL HAVING OPPOSITELY CURVED, INTERSECTING, ARCUATE CONFIGURATIONS AND PROVIDED WITH PAIRS OF FINGERS AT THEIR ENDS RECEIVED IN SAID PAIRS OF TRANSVERSELY SPACED SLOTS, AND (E) SHOULDERS ADJACENT THE FINGERS ON EACH OF SAID SPLATS ABUTTING THE ADJACENT FACES OF SAID PAIR OF MEMBERS ADJACENT THE SLOTS FORMED THEREIN. 